


Happily Ever After

by HMS_Chill



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Bedtime Stories, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, alex is a knight, henry's still a prince, just so much fluff, pez is a peacock, the queen is just straight up a dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 14:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20819171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMS_Chill/pseuds/HMS_Chill
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a prince trapped in a tower. The dragon told him he could only be free if he fell in love with a princess, and the prince had nearly given up hope of ever being free until a handsome knight changed his mind.





	Happily Ever After

"Once upon a time, there was a young Prince who lived in a beautiful kingdom. His parents, the King and Queen, loved him very much, and he was happy. But one day, the King died, and the Queen was consumed by her grief. The Prince was left alone, and in the absence of the King and Queen, a great dragon kidnapped the Prince and locked him in a tall tower. The dragon promised to destroy him if he ever showed the world who he truly was, so the Prince was locked away until he could learn to keep the parts of himself that the dragon hated locked away, too. As he looked out his window at the people below him, they looked back. So, though the kingdom only saw bits and pieces of him, they believed they knew him, and many fell in love.

"When the Prince was old enough, the dragon began to let pretty princesses into the tower, promising the Prince that if he could love a princess, the dragon would set him free. He would never be allowed to show the kingdom the parts of himself that the dragon thought were wrong, but he could walk among the people again. But of all the princesses that the dragon brought, none ever truly saw the prince. They saw him in bits and pieces, as though through mirrors or broken glass. They built a person from those fragments, and they fell in love with him, but he was not the Prince. For his part, the Prince could not love these princesses, no matter how hard he tried.

"For years, the dragon lay curled around the base of the tower, and the Prince grew up trapped inside. He met many princesses, but none of them could see him for who he was, and he found he could not love them. The Prince began to despair. If he could not love even the most beautiful princesses, how would he ever be free of the dragon? And if he could not fall in love, would anyone ever be able to see him as he really was?

"The Prince spent so long in the tower that he began to lose hope. He had started to believe that he would never leave, that the world outside would pass him by and leave him behind, when outside his window, he began to see a handsome Knight from the neighboring kingdom. The Knight would often come to talk to the princesses gathered outside the tower, or even to the dragon herself. He was brave, and happy, and the Prince began to fall in love with him even before he realized it.

"No matter how much he loved him, though, the Prince knew it was useless. The Knight would never love him back, and even if he did, the Prince was trapped in his tower until he could love a princess, and the dragon's rule was strict. Still, every day, he would watch the Knight through the window. He stopped meeting with the princesses, and rumors began to spread through the kingdom that the Prince had fallen in love.

"One night, the Prince had a dream. In his dreams, the dragon had no sway, and the Prince was able to walk freely in the world. In this one, he was standing on the edge of a cliff, and the Knight was standing on another. A wide chasm stretched between them, and when the Prince looked down, it was too full of fog for him to see the bottom. He looked beside him, and there was a beautiful peacock. He looked at the bird, and the bird looked at him and said, _I will bring him to you_.

"When the Prince woke, it was to a sound at the window where he had taken to gazing at the Knight outside. He hurried to see what it was, and he found the Knight climbing through that same window, helped by a variety of woodland animals and a very animated peacock. The Prince tried to hide himself away, afraid of what the dragon would do if anyone truly saw him, but it was too late. The Knight looked him in the eyes, and he introduced himself, and the Prince ran. He was afraid that the dragon would hurt him, afraid that the Knight would be hurt, and afraid of a million other things besides. He had lived so long in fear of the dragon that it felt too scary by far to do anything the dragon might not like.

"So that day, when the dragon sent the princesses, the Prince tried his hardest to fall in love with one of them, but he found he couldn't stop thinking about the handsome Knight. No princess could ever compare with the beautiful man who'd come to visit that morning, who had seen the Prince as he was and had not turned away in disgust. Though he'd left the tower (the Prince could see him outside with the others), the Prince could not stop thinking about the Knight. Sometimes, as he looked out the window, he could swear he saw the Knight looking up at him.

"That night, the Prince had the same dream as the night before. He was standing on a cliff, but the Knight seemed closer, less impossible to reach. The peacock was still there, so the Prince asked, _Will you bring him back?_

"When he woke to the sounds of someone climbing through his window, the Prince did not feel fear. He was careful to hide away the parts of himself that the dragon said the would would hate, but nevertheless, he went to the window to help his Knight climb into the tower. There they talked, and when the Knight had to leave lest the dragon find out he had visited, the Prince found his loneliness more acute. The tower felt emptier, the room quieter, and no princess could fill the space that the Knight left behind.

"The Prince and the Knight continued like this for a time, meeting in secret, early in the morning or late at night so that the dragon wouldn't know. Slowly, the Prince began to show the brave Knight all of the parts of himself that the dragon said he should keep locked away, and the Knight helped him learn to be braver. The Prince had believed that he should stay in the tower forever, always hiding away the parts of himself that were wrong, but the Knight believed he could be free. The Knight believed that the Prince deserved his freedom no matter what, and he shouldn't have to hide himself or marry a princess for that freedom.

"One day, after the Knight had climbed back out the window, the dragon came. She put her big head through the window, and the Prince cowered in the corner, afraid of what she might do to him. He was sure she would be able to smell the Knight, or she would see something and know he had visited, even though they were always careful to hide any sign that he had come. But the dragon simply rested her giant head on the windowsill of his tower and said, 'Hello, my Prince. Do you want to be free of this tower?'

"And the Prince, for all his longing for freedom, hesitated. He had spent so long in the tower that it had become almost comfortable. He was not happy, but he was comfortable in his loneliness. He was afraid that, if he told the dragon he wanted to leave, she would do something to hurt him. Worse, he was afraid that he would be allowed to leave, but only for a world that refused to see him for who he was and treated him with more cruelty than the dragon ever had. But he did want to leave the tower, and he confessed as much, and the dragon smiled a toothy smile. 

"'Well then, my Prince, I've brought you another woman. Rumor has it that you've fallen in love with her, so I've brought her to you.'

"The dragon's head disappeared, and a moment later, a great clawed hand took its place. The Prince worked hard to hide away all the bits of himself that he didn't want anyone to see, and when he turned, the woman that the dragon had brought looked like his Knight. Could it be? Had someone transformed the Knight into a woman? But the Prince knew in his heart that he could never love a woman the way the dragon demanded, even if she had been the man he loved. But the woman introduced herself as the Knight's sister, and she explained that she had come to keep the Prince company and be his friend. So the Prince talked to her all day, and when she left, the Knight climbed in through the window. He hugged the Prince close, and he promised that some day, the Prince could leave the tower and it could all be okay. 

"While they embraced, the dragon came to talk to the Prince about the woman she'd brought him. When she saw him hugging the Knight, she let out a roar that shook the very foundations of the tower. The Prince was afraid, and he wanted to hide, to let go and make the dragon happy, but to let go would mean to live in the tower forever, always hiding, and he couldn't do that. He knew that if he let go of his Knight now, it would mean letting go forever, and he couldn't let the Knight go forever, no matter how afraid he felt.

"As the dragon roared, lashing her tail and stomping her feet, the tower began to crumble. The Prince and the Knight held onto each other as the whole world seemed to be collapsing around them. They held tight, and when the shaking stopped and the dust began to settle, they still had each other. The Prince was afraid to let go, but he looked up from the Knight's shoulder to look around and saw that the tower had crumbled. The dragon was left a mere shell of herself, tired and old. All of her anger and fear had left her worn out, and seeing the Prince and the Knight in love had been the final straw. The Prince saw now that he could leave the tower, and as the Knight led the way out, the Prince began to leave bits of his masks behind. 

"The Knight helped the Prince learn that he was wonderful the way he was, and that there was nothing wrong with the things that the dragon said he had to hide. The Prince began to learn that he could show himself to the world without being afraid of them. Most of the outside world didn't care if he liked knights more than princesses, and the Prince learned not to listen to the few who did. The Prince found the Queen and helped her to rule the kingdom again, and peace and prosperity spread throughout the land. Every night, the Prince would leave the palace for a little house in the village where he lived with his handsome Knight. Before long, the kingdom had two princes instead of one."

"And did they live happily ever after?"

Henry looks down at the little girl snuggled into the bed beside him and smiles. He's almost certain she's heard this story before, in some form or another. After all, her parents had been involved at nearly every turn, and though Shaan could keep it from Zahra, he told his daughter everything.

"They did live happily ever after. And you know what? Your mommy and daddy helped them. See this deer and this panther? That's your daddy and mommy."

She smiles, then yawns as Henry says, "But it's time for bed now, alright? It's time to go to sleep so your mommy and daddy don't get made at us and will let us babysit for you again."

"I'm not a baby," she says, and Henry smiles.

"I know you're not."

"Make Alex come say goodnight."

"Alright; you'll have to let me up, though." He pulls his arm out from around her shoulders and lets her snuggle deeper into the bed as he goes to the door. "Alex, Love, it's time to say goodnight."

Alex appears in the doorway, drying his hands on a dish towel. He drapes it on the door knob and comes to sit in bed next to the tired little girl.

"Alex, read me a story? Henry only read one."

"Yes, but that one was a very special story. It's a story he wrote himself, and it's about us, and how your mommy and daddy and all our friends helped us live happily ever after."

"But I want another."

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl with a very scary mommy who wouldn't go to bed for her kid-sitters. When she got home to find her little girl still awake, her mommy ground the two kid-sitters into protein powder for her morning shake. The end."

She laughs, then settles down. Henry makes sure she's all tucked in, and she says goodnight to them both. Alex turns on the night light and leaves the door open just a crack, and Henry grabs the dish towel Alex left on the door knob.

"How'd the read through go?" Alex asks as they settle on the couch, and Henry smiles.

"It was good. A few tweaks to make, maybe, but I'm feeling good about it. I'm so happy with the illustrations, though. Look, they made your mom an eagle, and the last page has a picture of you in an apron cooking elote."

"I'm proud of you. Honestly, I am. I'm so proud. You've written a whole book, and it's going to make so many kids happy."

"I just hope it helps someone," Henry says. "I don't want anyone to have to feel alone like I did. If it helps even one kid feel less broken, that's all I want."

Alex kisses his cheek as they lean back on the couch, and Henry asks, "Wanna see Shaan and Zahra's Netflix history?"

"I think I'm a bad influence on you," Alex says, laughing. "Let's see what they watch."

As Henry navigates through their history, Alex leans over to rest his head on his boyfriend's shoulder to murmur, "Can I tell you a secret? I'd rescue you from your dragon grandma any day."

With that, they snuggle into their snooping. Alex falls asleep on Henry's shoulder, and Henry turns on _The Great British Baking Show_ as he makes some notes on the advance copy of his debut picture book, and they truly do live happily ever after.

**Author's Note:**

> Consider: Alex and Henry babysit for Zahra and Shaan, because Zahra and Shaan have spent a lifetime babysitting the boys. My brain gave me 'the Queen's a dragon' and I had to run with it.  
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A note on side characters: Shaan is a buck because they're sleek and beautiful and ethereal and deceptively powerful. I had never known true fear until I saw a herd of deer in a haunted graveyard at midnight. Zahra is a panther because they're well groomed but terrifying in their beauty. Pez is a peacock because I couldn't stop thinking about him in a Kimono (or this [cursed outfit](https://www.instagram.com/p/B0r0a3slopJ/)) and got peacock vibes.  
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As always, I'm [HMS-Chill](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hms-chill) on tumblr for fic stuff; if you wanna chat either there or here please do! Let me know what you like! What you hate! If I made a typo (please god let me know if I made a typo)! I love talking to y'all about what I make! Cheers!


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